This part of the movie that is being spoken is from the poem ‘And Still I Rise’ by Maya Angelou. The poem is all about challenging gender norms and expectations. It’s about a woman who I assume is Maya Angelou (as she is also speaking to all women) being confident in her own skin that society is judging her for. I feel that the poem encourages young women to embrace their own unique beauty and to not let anybody else’s opinion/judgment hold them back. 

This monologue by  Alfre Woodard was one of my favorite scenes in the entire movie. Her whole character was based on being a mentor and a wise older woman who supported not only Gina (Queen Latifah) but the other people who worked in the shop. I think that I found her to be my favorite character of the entire movie because of the way she carried herself. With so much confidence and so much pride (in a good way) and she didn’t really care what anybody else thought of her. She perfectly embodied Maya Angelou’s part in ‘And Still I Rise’ and even ‘Phenomenal Woman’ which she also quotes towards the end of the movie.

-Samauria Eason(200)

Conversation: Are Mardi Gras Indians in New Orleans Culture Appropriating?

Mardi-Gras Indians are made up of people from African-American communities in the inner city of New Orleans. These Black neighborhoods in the New Orleans area decided to create their own way of celebrating the infamous holiday because historically, due to racism and segregation, they weren’t allowed to parade with the bigger, more well-known krewes.

I disagree that the Mardi gras Indians are culturally appropriating Native Americans. According to Mardi Gras New Orleans, The Mardi Gras Indians named themselves after native Indians to pay them respect for their assistance in escaping the tyranny of slavery. So, in a way, I can see the people of this community paying homage to those who've helped them. Not to mention in every video we’ve watched in Professor Helm’s class those who march and play important roles in these tribes Often bring up or mention the historical context behind their names that was heavily influenced by the Native Americans. NewOrleans.com also mentioned how ancestral African slave influence and the history of Native Americans' influence both play a part in the creation of Mardi Gras Indians and how they choose to celebrate the holiday. Later in the article, they even state the difference between The tribes of New Orleans. Uptown Indian suits and Downtown suits.  Uptown suits usually pull more from the Native American influences using rhinestones and feathers while downtown usually sticks to the African heritage with sequins and feathers. 

-Samauria Eason(200)

Small Reflection of The Year

Rate 7/10

As my last day at Xavier approaches, a feeling of excitement and peace is finally taking over. Though, I am still worried and anxious about my final grades and keeping my scholarship. I couldn't be more ecstatic to leave. Over the course of this year I’ve learned a lot about myself as a student and somewhat as a person. I’m still trying to figure out the transition from high school to college but I know for a FACT that my study habits need to change. Oftentimes, especially second semester, I’ve realized that when it comes to studying I procrastinate a lot. Which often leads to me not even studying at all or becoming distracted when I do start “studying.” As a person, I feel like I’ve learned that I am a person who thrives a bit under pressure and responds well to tough love. By that meaning, I kind of like a more strict teacher who gives tedious deadlines because it actually motivates me to get work and things done. I will say that my first semester was way easier than the second semester. I also didn’t make an effort in a social life my first semester so making friends and going out more could have contributed to the downfall of my second semester. However, I wouldn’t trade it for anything really.

-Samauria Eason (200)

200 Kenadi C

200. Another Eula and Carolleta rant 

The question popped up into my head “Will Caroletta ever get over Eula”? I compare Caroletta to the boys of my time who seem to chase and chase women until they give up. Chasing women could either go two ways, the boy gives up and bashes the woman or he does not stop until he gets her and then breaks her heart as revenge. This is what I have seen in my 19 years of living. Maybe it is different from a woman chasing another woman. Ultimately, Caroletta is not chasing Eula because Eula is giving Carolletta small pieces of her. Deesha Philyaw articulates the story in a way that shows how eagerly and desperate Caroletta wants all of Eula. 

I do not believe in women pursuing men, which might be silly of me; so, the furthest I would go in pursuing a man would be texting first. The first time I feel as if I am bothering him, game over, everything is up to you now. It is up to you to reach out and make me feel wanted. Unfortunately, I am more of a Eula. Eula probably enjoys giving a little part of herself to Carolletta and watch Carolletta want more. I am Eula. Eula is me.

-Kenadi C

200 Kenadi C

Would you change your look if you moved out of the country?

Throughout my childhood and high school years, we would travel. We have been to many states in the country. Before every trip, as we packed our clothes my mom would say “they do not dress like that in whatever state we were going to. In this case, I have two different arguments. My first being, why didn't she just buy the clothes to match the attire of the state we were going to. Also, my mom always taught us to embrace who we were. She always was the type to let us wear our hair and nails as we pleased. My sister and I expressed ourselves through our sense of fashion so why did it matter how we dressed when we were traveling. Why did I have to fit in in the state when for the most part it was obvious that we were visitors/

If I were to take a job out of the country. I know I would slowly conform to the dress code their. I have no problem being open to new fashion trends and changing up my appearance to fit my new life.

-Kenadi C

200 Kenadi C

Why I think I will never get married.

I do not think I will ever get married due to my spontaneous personality. I love new things and meeting new people. I believe in a person getting old to me. In my experiences in high school, when I got tired of someone, I would simply go on to the next with no explanation to the previous guy. In a way I know that is selfish and everyday I ask God to take my selfish ways away. While I am fully aware of the other person’s feelings, I do not take them into consideration.

Fast forward to now, my young adult years, I absolutely love dating. I still carry some of the same ways that I always did have such as “ghosting”. I would be distraught if I were to ever be ghosted. The reason I choose to cut some men off is because I see one of their flaws that they just cant come back from. My purpose of ghosting is because there is nothing to discuss as to why I am about to cut you off. I seen something in you that I do not like and can not get over. Thats it. Thats all. There is no room for discussion. 

-kenadi c

200 Kenadi C

200. Lets talk about true independence as a young black girl. 

My first semester in college went well or so I thought until I came back home for summer break and reality hit again. It felt as if all of the independence that I gained left again. I blame my black mother because of her constant reminder that “ I am a child”.

This blog is about black mothers. Do black mothers build up or tear down their daughters? My personal experience growing up has been both. While I write this, I will say that I love my mom, but there is a pattern that I see amongst other black girls when it comes to their upbringing. I have been taught to handle my own business when it comes to setting up doctor appointments or anything school related. I have learned to be completely independent on my parents money if that makes sense and by my parents I am always praised for it. However, the very first mistake I make, here I am a little girl who is completely clueless to my mother. What is her purpose in these hurtful speeches that she gives to me? Truly, I am not hurt by it and I think I just remind myself of her too much lol. 

-Kenadi C

500 Kenadi C

What is there to say about a lawyer dating a bus driver? My general answer to this question is that there is nothing wrong with a woman being a breadwinner in the relationship; however,  I would not want to be in that position. There are a lot of things that come with being the financially dominant one in a relationship. To me, it is equivalent to being the only friend in college with a car, all responsibility falls on you. With the car situation, you can easily refuse services to a friend, but being the breadwinner wife, you are your family or spouse's source of income. I think of scenarios like, if I were to lose my job, could he jump in position and financially take care of the both of us or would I have to fend for myself because he can only take care of himself. 

As stated before,  I think it is ok for a lawyer to date a bus driver because we have to look beyond societal norms and societal stereotypes or assumptions about certain professions. In the black community, if a woman were to be a bus driver and her husband the lawyer, that would be deemed normal. If roles were switched, it would be assumed that “that man is taking all of  her money”. We have to accept and understand that accommodating eachother’s lifestyles, commitments, and responsibilities are a few factors that lead to a healthy and stable relationship.

On the other hand, why is it just assumed that the bus driver is not the breadwinner. There is a boy on campus that has a true passion for driving buses. His family is helping him with his bus career while he is also earning his degree. In his future, he will be a bus driver with a degree so at any time he can match his wife financially or maybe even go beyond her finances. 

It was brought up in class that what would they even talk about as a couple and they are on two different levels in a work setting. I do not think that matters whatsoever. As long as the two feel as if they match each others goals, endgame plan, and ultimate desires then everything will work for them as a couple. 

While I am preaching, I still would not want to be the significant other with higher income. Personally, I would feel like I am dominated on so many more levels than just finances. In every aspect of a relationship, I feel like I should be taken care of, but again these are personal expectations. There are women who want to completely be in control in some or in all aspects. As a college student who is taking care of myself, I would not get into a relationship where I still would be taking care of myself and that goes for when I graduate college as well. Otherwise, I could have stayed single. I think it is vital to learn independence, but when I am with a man its either all or nun. 

500 Kenadi C

Do gateway drugs for one thing become a gateway for everything in your life? Disclaimer: I  AM NOT AGAINST ANYONE WHO SMOKES WEED. Before coming to college, I was exposed to weed but not as often as I was exposed to it here. At home, all of the old heads and the athletes in high school smoked weed. Coming to college and seeing young thriving students smoke weed surprised me in many ways… I had so many questions. Before doing my research and asking a few students, my questions included Why do you smoke weed? How does it make you feel? Are you suppressing emotions, hurt or some form of pain? Do you do it just to kill time? Is it just a hobby that you accidentally picked up on? Is it a hobby or something you do just when you are going out or something you do when your friends do it? Majority of the answer to all of those questions was that they smoke weed to suppress their feelings from either trauma they experienced or to escape their thoughts. Weed is a gateway drug for many to escape their own reality. At least once a week I find myself in this hole that I’ve dug into my thoughts. Often, I go to sleep, eat, or pray about it. I know how to just deal with my emotions not saying that weed smokers do not know how to deal with their emotions, they just deal with it in a different way; however, after doing my research, it is said that weed is a gateway drug. A gateway drug is a habit forming drug that, while not itself addictive, may lead to the use of other addictive drugs. To my understanding, weed is like a shoulder to lean on. Just failed a test? Smoke something. Just got cheated on or got caught cheating? Smoke something. Ultimately weed smokers are trying to chase their very first high which is the reason they smoke weed. Tolerance breaks are usually taken by weed smokers to enhance their very next high. The use of weed may eventually lead to the use of cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamine. All of the individuals that I have spoken with who smoke weed say that they would not try these drugs; however, I have spoken with a few who are eager to try shroom and/or acid to get a hallucinogenic effect.

A few tips to stop smoking weed are to find alternate activities. While vapes are not the safest, infesting in a vape could  give the simulation that you are engaging in smoking something. Set a goal and proceed to celebrate your milestones. Define and make it clear to yourself why you want to stop smoking. Celebrating yourself could also mean reaching out to family or friends on your journey and have them motivate you and celebrate you on all of your big milestones. Last, remove triggers from your life such as people, music, or any other personal triggers. 

-Kenadi C

500 Kenadi C

How are college graduates different from people who have not graduated college? In what I have experienced, there is a different aura amongst college students/ graduates and people who have not graduated college. For example, my mom holds a bachelor’s degree in business accounting from Xavier University of Louisiana. Contradicting to that, my dad went to technical school right out of high school and has been working in the salt mine industry for more than 25 years. They are both financially accomplishing however, there are levels to the things that I learn from my parents. From my mom, I can learn life lessons and hear about where her life got serious. I can hear about all of her big accomplishments that marked progression in her life. Hearing about and learning from some of her corporate experiences has shaped me to be the young lady I am. During Covid, mom was put on a hybrid schedule and mostly worked from home. As I worked from home on my school work, I would hear her professionally answer calls and handle her work and personal business. I picked up on a lot of tactics she used and began to handle my own business. I turned 16 during Covid and got my very first car which required things like making payment and putting insurance. I learned to do this all from hearing my mom make phone calls and have a stern business woman nature. I never really heard my dad have to step out and take a call or be professional in any setting because my mom picked up the slack on all of that. I say this all to say that just because my dad did not go to college does not mean that he did not learn or have the opportunity to learn to handle some things, he just had someone to do it. I strongly believe that someone without a college degree and in cases I have see, no highschool diploma make just as much or more amounts of money as someone with. My argument to the question whether or not there is a difference among people with a degree vs people without is that there is a level of participation one without can have. As a freshman in undergrad, I’ve had classes with seniors and was completely floored at the topics they were talking about. I could not stop anywhere in the conversation and pitch in because it was out of my context. 

This is a reason why I stepped my study up as a business major because if I am in college only to get by to pass the test then what am I retaining. If I do not retain any information and only use college as a tool to network, then I will never be able to sit in and have conversations with people who have run the college course and truly earned their degrees. All in all, I know my dad could compose of this aura that I speak about; however, he chooses not to because that is not of his nature, and he chooses to make his money in a different kind of environment.

-kenadi C

500 Kenadi C

Would you change your looks for a high paying corporate job? I'll start this blog post by saying that this is complete discrimination.The CROWN Act stands for Creating A Respectful and Open World For Natural Hair and was first passed in California in 2019. The CROWN Act was designed to prevent discrimination based on hairstyle and texture. The Black culture has faced prejudice in corporate and educational settings. As a young girl in a predominantly white  elementary school, I wore a flower headband along with my ponytail of box braids. Shortly after I began wearing the headband, a new rule surfaced saying that I could no longer wear the headband because it was a distraction. A distraction to who? There were no rules in the handbook against my choice of expression, but because I was a black girl, I felt targeted. In the real world,  I think all black women are targeted when it comes to their professional look especially when they are out of social norms to the public eye. I watched my mom work in a corporate setting and fit into all of the social norms that she was “supposed to” as a black human resources manager amongst her white peers. If a company were to not hire me because of my hair I would file a discrimination lawsuit. Also, I think this shows how the company functions as a whole. How does my hair affect my performance? This is where the company may mess up because what they do not realize is that they just lost their best candidate for the position as well as have a discrimination lawsuit on their hand.

As a black individual, I believe in being woke. Woke is a term of the African American vernacular that means to be alert to racial prejudice and discrimination. To be woke in a situation like this is to know what you can do. I’ve done my research and I’ve found that there are many lawsuits that can take place against the company. Through the Employment Discrimination Lawsuit, they can file under the Title VII of the Civil Right Act in 1964. This can be filed only if the company’s request for hair change is under a protected characteristic such as origin, religion, or race. A violation of state or local laws would be if a company were to discriminate after being hired on the job. For an individual who is not aware of his/her rights, they would be easily convinced that now that they work for the company they have to do as they. A violation of local or state laws such as The CROWN Act, could result on the affected employee to file a lawsuit under the state or local legislation. The Breach of Employment Contract is designed to protect employee’s other individual appearances such as piercings, tattoos, hair color or sense of style. The last action that can be taken against a company is the Hostile Work environment Claim. This could be filed if an employee rejects the request of hair change and the company creates a hostile work environment.

-Kenadi Charles

SMALL RANT: I do feel like preparing for this semester's final is way more stressful than last semester. Mainly because I have picked up Biology. Before college I LOVED biology and everything about it however being here at Xavier has caused my love for the science to fade. It seems like no matter how hard I study or think I may know the topic the test comes around and HUMBLES me. Maybe I just haven't put enough effort, or my study habits are off? I'm honestly not sure anymore and I hate that because now I'm second guessing everything and it's really awful. I can't wait too away from here.

-Samauria Eason

 Grandma’s are seen as the matriarch of the family dynamic not only because they are the oldest female figure in the family but because of wisdom and guidance they often pass down their family tree. Black grandmothers specifically have always been a central figure in African American families. They’re generally seen as not only the matriarch but the keeper of family history and traditions. Thinking back to a time during slavery and segregation, the black grandmother was crucial in the resilience and survival of african american families. During times of hardship and injustice African American grandmothers are often the ones to become primary caregivers of their grandchildren provind love, discipline and overall the stability of the typical (present mother and father) household.  Though I was supposed to be on vacation and enjoying the party I couldn’t help but think that I had to write about this in one of my blog posts. 

Over the weekend I went back home to St. Louis, Missouri where we not only celebrated Mother’s Day but the 75th birthday of my grandma. She lives in Texas with me, my mom, my siblings and my aunt so we thought it would be a perfect idea to get the rest of my family together and surprise. It came together really nice and to say she was surprised was the least. Of her seven kids she has 17 grandkids and 22 great-grandkids. It had been maybe five years since she had seen all of her grandkids and great-grandkids all together in one space. There was so much family around. For me and my siblings, who see my grandma everyday we didn’t really think of the impact of them seeing her and vice versa would be so tear jerking. Looking around it was honestly just beautiful seeing everyone express their appreciation for her and put differences aside to celebrate someone who has been the backbone and sacrificed so much for our family. 

For as long as I’ve known my grandma, she’s always had the biggest heart. When I think of a strong black woman, she’s the first person to come to mind. She would always tell us about what it was like for her moving from Mississippi to Missouri and even though it feels like they’re on repeat now I’m still amazed at what all she’d been through. Her resilience and love for her family is something I only hope to reciprocate when I’m older and have a family of my own. 

-Samauria Eason (500)

Currently missing Mardi Gras it was such a great experience.

-Tamia Williams

Currently missing Mardi Gras it was such a great experience.

-Tamia Williams

“There were many African American - many, many stories similar to my story.” -Claudette Colvin

-Tamia Williams

"You've got to learn to leave the table when love's no longer being served." -Nina Simone

-Tamia Williams